The Weekend Report: October 18, 2009

The weekend surprise was not the estimated $32.6 million grossed by Where the Wild Things Are that led ticker sales but the torrid $21.4 million debut of the legal thriller Law Abiding Citizen, which had high end expectations of a $15 million bow. The session’s third national launch generated a respectable $12.2 million for the remake of The Stepfather.

The frame also saw a spate of limited and exclusive bows including OK results of $383,000 for the omnibus New York, I Love You at 119 venues and $142,000 for the spoofish Black Dynamite from 70 retro houses. Neither of the new entries on the Bollywood circuit -- Main Aur Mrs. Khanna and All the Best -- displayed much strength nor the majority of incoming exclusives with the exception of Chilean import The Maid that arrived with $17,100 from a Manhattan solo.

But the sum of all tears provided a significant box office boost from last weekend as well as the comparable frame of 2008.

The adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s beloved 1964 kid lit classic Where the Wild Things Are had long been anticipated as a major release and an easy box office champion. However, its expected skew toward a family audience proved incorrect. Exit polls revealed that families comprised half the audience with 43% of sales credited to patrons older than 18 years old. How quickly the studio can reconfigure an ad campaign will become clear around Wednesday. The picture’s 145 Imax engagements accounted for almost 10% of the gross with an estimated $3.1 million.

The Jamie Foxx-Gerard Butler thriller Law Abiding Citizen was largely viewed as programmer fodder and buyer’s response and buzz exceeded initial tracking. Still it faces the challenge of maintaining a profile as the flow of fall releases continues in the coming weeks.

Weekend sales should pull up just shy of $140 million and score an impressive 28% hike from seven days back. It was also an eye-popping 40% better than last year when the launch of Max Payne led the field with a $17.6 million gross and freshmen entries The Secret Life of Bees and W. each added $10.5 million to the aggregate.

The frame also saw some impressive expansions including the imperiled to be over-hyped Paranormal Activity. But the verdict remains so far so good in terms of audience appreciation as its limited wide exposure maintained close to a $26,000 theater average. Also holding their own were the widening but still limited A Serious Man and An Education.

Meanwhile losing traction or peaking early appears to be the fate of such early award season favorites as Bright Star, Capitalism: A Love Story and the basketball saga More Than a Game.

by Leonard Klady